Enclosure assemblies are commonly used to house standardized connectors in order to protect them against harmful environmental impacts, such as shock, strain, corrosive substances, chemical and/or solar exposure. Generally, one or more cables are attached to the connectors, and have one or more transmission lines. The cable can be terminated by a terminating assembly or sub-assembly, which often includes a retainer or end cap positioned at a terminating end of the cable, where the transmission line exits the cable. The retainer may be used to attach the connector and/or the transmission line within the enclosure assembly.
Often, the cable is an optical fiber cable, where the transmission line is an optical fiber. Optical fibers can come as units having a fiber element composed of several individual fibers. These fibers can further be bundled into bundles comprising several fibers. Such a bundle or several bundles are then positioned within a cable. As the fibers themselves are rather long and thin, and therefore prone to damage by snapping and cracking, strain relief on the terminating end that joins with the connector is often advantageous in order to eliminate any stresses which could act on the fibers themselves.
The enclosure assembly, together with the connector received therein, is regarded as an electrical and/or optical plug connector adapted to be mated with a respective mating plug connector. The mating plug connector has a complimentary mating enclosure assembly and/or a mating connector. The enclosure assembly is adapted to be mated with the mating enclosure assembly, while at the same time, plugging the connector into the mating connector or vice versa. The mating connector may be part of a housing for electronic/electrical equipment and form a bulkhead at or in this housing. The dimensions of the mating plug connector, especially of the position of the mating connector within or with respect to the mating enclosure assembly along a longitudinal direction of the enclosure assembly and/or mating direction of the plug connector, may vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and/or application to application.